Sun. 11.18.18 – Yes, I am back in London to write. I find that I write best here, for a number of reasons both known and rather mysterious to me. When I am home in California, I can muster 2000-4000 words per month, hardly words enough to finish a short story in reasonable time – let alone a book. When I am in London, I can reach that word count in two days or less.

The last two years of US politics have heavily weighed me down and when I get to London, as long as I stay off of the news and social media sites, I am able to feel slightly bouyant again. At least here, I can float in my imagination – unfettered from the fecal matter of US politics – long enough to create and write.

While I am not participating in the NaBloPoMo nor NaNoWriMo, I am doing my best to restart my blogging practice in a more regular fashion – albeit in clumps – as well as finish writing a few stories and a book.

Here I am for a month. Let’s see how much writing and editing I can get done. Wish me luck.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen from the Embankment Golden Jubilee Bridge at dusk with her camera phone.

Fri 11.16.18 – There is something about the quality of light coming through the glass panes of Paddington Station in the late autumn at the end of the afternoon that is really beautiful. Every so often, I am able to capture it in a photo. Here is today’s iteration of this decade plus occasional series.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a camera phone after exiting a train at Paddington Station, London, UK.

05.27.18 – The Persian restaurant, Hafez, on Hereford Rd in the border-land that could be Bayswater or it could be Notting Hill, has a rather wondrous approach to interior restaurant decor. There are cookbooks everywhere, the walls and ceilings are festooned with antique and vintage silver and brass culinary and serving implements. Hafez is a delight to not only eat really good food but also a delight for the eyes.

This was directly above our seats this evening. Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Lumia 950 camera phone.

Today, Saturday, March 31, 2018, I was exploring the back by-ways that would allow me to arrive at my favorite gluten-free bakery in London all the while avoiding the mess of Oxford Street when I found this new post-modern contemporary contemporary building in Fitzrovia with a poor, pre-leafed out London plane tree standing bravely in the rain defending the neighborhood from the Borg.

Photo of the Marble Arch at Dusk taken on Fri. Nov. 10, 2017 approximately a half hour after sunset when all the lights would be on but still some light in the sky for the Black & White No Explanation Challenge on Instagram. This is the original color photo before I used the Instagram editing features to make it B&W to post on that site.